


Allies

by DynamicKea



Series: Partners AU [4]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: AU, Dehydration, Desert, Gen, Post SoI
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-05-01
Packaged: 2018-03-22 06:03:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3717865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DynamicKea/pseuds/DynamicKea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone had to stop the sands, and the two of them managed to succeed. Of course their time of safety has to go wrong. Now Sjin and Xephos need to rely on the kindness of strangers, at least until they find each other again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The sand almost bled underfoot. Each and every grain grasped against their boots. Each bit of grit clung to the leather, each dry and keening as they were dragged along the scorching land. The loose dust soon fell off the boots to be lost in the endless expanse. The stumblers were the pair that staggered like sleepwalkers over every dune, through the teeth of tussocks and the mockingly gentle plains of sand.

Sand.

Sand which only a few hours ago had bubbled and boiled underfoot. It had loomed like tidal waves, crashing down upon their backs and tearing their swords from their grasp. Spinning great wyrms and serpents of the desert had snatched at their eyes, pummeling them and churning endlessly....

Now the sands were still.

Grit still ground its way through Xephos’s eyes. Every blink was an exercise in caution to not create new cuts upon his eyelids. That wasn’t something Xephos wanted. He didn’t want new cuts to match those left behind by all the insanity that had come before. Those immediate sounds echoed in his brain, bounding from deep in his vertebrae to out his panting and rubbery mouth. The crunching and irregular slips of his feet, the hissing of the mouth agony birthed, and on occasion the smallest whimper of wind that flung more sand upon him, these noises echoed in the endless sands.

_We’re going to die._

‘Balls to _that_ ,’ Xephos tried to say. It took substantially more effort than was natural. Sticky thirst had pinned his tongue to his teeth.

A questioning grunt came from beside him.

Xephos tried again. ‘We are, we are _not_.’

A stray bit of spittle, somehow still hiding among molars and lips instead of helping with the task of hydration, caught against the back of Xephos’s mouth. It was an unpleasant experience, trying to cough when your mouth was sewn together with dryness. Add in some general exhaustion, fold in a slippery surface, stir for half a second, and Xephos only found his breath after collapsing to the ground.

‘Xephos?! No, don’t die, come on we almost made it, _no_.’

‘Still alive,’ Xephos managed to say. There was a tight hold against his arm. Relatively tight, that is. It would have never passed as a firm grip back in civilisation but here in the dry, in the _heat_ , it grounded Xephos.

Worried eyes met his. ‘You sure?’ Sjin said. The farmer looked exactly like a beach had risen up and attempted to smother him.

‘Am I sure that I’m alive? Hm, I don’t know, maybe I’m actually a ghost.’

Dry, cracked, and bleeding lips broke into a smile. It wasn’t a big smile. It was not impressive, or the type that could be matched with peeling chuckles. In fact, many would not consider it a smile at all.

Yet it was. And that was what counted.

‘Come on then, we almost made it,’ Sjin said.

Together the pair struggled to stand. There was many slips, many curses that were yelled; if not in voice then at least they gave a good try in mind. Soon they were both upright, both walking through the dead landscape. Maybe one day, the sands would be reclaimed. Maybe one day Icaria, Mistral and all those little towns could be rebuilt and reconstructed into the fertile soil they had been those scant months ago.

Now all that mattered was the journey. One foot then the next, each of the adventurers supporting the other. All that mattered was that they walked. All that mattered was... was....

The sun was setting over the pair. As the earth’s shadow crept and stalked, Xephos closed his eyes.

+++

When awakening from a nightmare, the typical and dramatic way would be to jerk bolt upright, hand flying to a galloping heart and eyes flicking from shadow to shadow. A strangled gasp would have been heard, before reality brushed over, calming, helping the afflicted back to sleep. In reality, this usually only occurred with cursed nightmares.

For Xephos, when awakening from frantic dreams of fighting and blindness, he was thankful that he woke normally. He was immediately aware of reality, not reaching for his sword and leaping at an unfortunate tree.

_Then_ , after clarity and the divide between dream and harsh reality was established, he finally became confused. After all, wasn’t he meant to be in a desert?

Sunlight dripped through a boarded up window. It was so bright, the gaps between the wood were meer highlights of white. Xephos’s parched mind then thought, _wood_ , in an attempt to jumpstart some bit, some tiny residue of proper thinking.

_Wood_. Not just wood, planks and a few bits of glass below the window. Rolling lethargically over, his mind registered _bed_ , _floor_ , and _door_. Finally the thoughts condensed into _room_ , and neatly progressed to _house_ , to _village_ and finally to _safety_.

The normal instincts of fear and tension wavered and relaxed. Safe. They were safe.

Then gears started to poke at Xephos, pointing out that he couldn’t quite relax just yet. There was one more thought for him to reach. One more problem, one more....

_**They** were safe._

Sjin.

Xephos’s brain woke up, jumping into action and jolting Xephos out of the bed and onto the floor. Not to be deterred, he sprang back up. After several minutes of vertigo Xephos’s hand latched onto the doorknob.

He pretty much fell out the door and slammed into his friend.

‘Ow!’ Sjin staggered back, holding onto his nose. ‘What the hell, Xephos? First thing you do on waking up, you start throwing doors at me?’

Xephos muttered something into the soil.

Soil.

‘We made it...?’

Sjin shoved Xephos up, beaming brightly. ‘Yeah. We made it.’

Five minutes later found Sjin sitting on a chair in the room. Xephos had been forced back into the bed by a scowl-faced villager, whom after a careful checkover proclaimed that Xephos was staying put. Xephos could have sworn that Sjin was silently laughing at him the entire time.

The second the doctor left, Xephos turned to Sjin. ‘Where are we, and how long have I been here?’

‘About two or so days, in some village called “First Aid,” I think.’

‘...Really?! _Two_?'

Sjin grinned. ‘Yeah. We’re all lucky. They _just_ lucked out on being hit by the sands, we went within a mile of them. The sand’s only around three feet away.’

‘Think it’ll recede enough for them?’

‘Maybe?’ Sjin shrugged and paused to gulp down more water. ‘Who knows. Maybe it’ll go away, maybe it’ll stay. Either way, it’s not deadly anymore. There’s grass in there now. Even some horses.’

‘So, then all of _that_.’ Xephos gestured vaguely towards the walls. ‘It’s all over? _Really_ , legit over?’

‘Yeah. All over.’ Sjin stood, stretched, and nodded to Xephos. ‘I’m going to see if I can help with their farms, you should get some more sleep.’

‘I’ve been sleeping for two days.’

Sjin was already at the door. ‘Yeah, but doctor’s orders! At least you’ve been _asleep_ for most of your bed rest, I only just got out of sitting in boredom. I’ll come back in an hour?’

Xephos eyed Sjin, who was hopping from foot to foot. ‘Oh, you go have fun,’ he said. Sjin’s expression burst into a bright grin. Xephos couldn’t help but mirror him. ‘Try not to awaken any sources of extreme evil?’

‘Will do!’

The door swung shut with a soft _thump_.

Now the room was silent, save for the assorted sounds solely associated with Xephos. Outside was another story. Hesitant birdsong, a few villagers talking and the sound of a cow filtered its way through the window. It was nice, peaceful even.

It then occurred to Xephos, as nothing continued to happen, that the next few days were going to be boring.

****  
  



	2. Chapter 2

When Xephos said the next few days were going to be boring, he had decided that he was looking forward to it. A few days without any calamities, without fighting evil villains or anything else that could wreck his day. A few days where he and Sjin could sit back, kick their feet up, and _relax_.

Xephos adjusted his bag as he walked through the jungle.  
 

_‘What do you **mean** Sjin disappeared!?’_

_‘One of the cows got loose, he went after her. They... he didn’t come back.’_

_‘And you didn’t go after him!?’_

 

A branch caught under Xephos’s feet. Regaining his footing, he pressed onwards.

 

_‘You cannot leave yet, sir! You need rest-’_

_**'** Bugger that, I’m not giving up on my friend.’_

_‘Sir-’_

_‘I’m going, alright? The sand’s safe now, you can use a ton more land than before, you’ll be fine without another hand.’_

_‘...At least take some supplies, sir.’_

 

Sunset was ahead of him. For the past hour, he kept thinking is that the edge of the woods? Is that it? Yet no, it was just more and more bloody trees to clamber over.

His boots struck dirt.

Xephos blinked, instinctively freezing at the change from the crackling of twigs and leaves to the smush of dirt. A smooth slice of dry dirt cut the jungle in half. On the opposite side of the dirt, a fallen tree trunk lay, graffiti littering its surface.

Huh.

After a few second on thought Xephos turned left, stepped onto what he assumed was a road, and kept walking.

+++

‘Excuse me, I’m looking for a man named Sjin? About my height, brown moustache and beard?’

As was becoming depressingly regular, the villager shrugged and moved on.

Xephos sighed. This town he had found was a lot bigger than First Aid had been. Or at least, it had been. Massive chunks were torn from the town, like a great fiery mallet had played Whac-A-Mole with it and the surrounding area. There was more damage than the craters as well. As Xephos had drawn near the town, he’d noticed the grass and trees were scorched and falling apart. Only a single building on a distant hill had remained intact in the scorched fields and forest, with an odd ring of grass standing green in the destruction.

The town was a fear filled frenzy of activity. It looked like many were preparing to leave. Some type of last minute market was running in full force. Stalls were strung up before every hut, like each house had thrown up their wares and tried to cower among one another. Each stall contained a collection of items. Tables, chests of drawers, chairs, one or two beds on every street, they spilled across the street. It appeared that they were almost begging to be stolen from. Stalls that contained food were filled to the brim with scurrying folk.

Xephos had drifted into a blacksmith, who had shoved a blue hued sword at him and begged for him to be safe.

Every person seemed to have an odd energy. Stepping into a busier stall, he found that the owners were virtually handing out bags of supplies, like the entire community was banding together to escape.

And in this air of frantic “shopping,” not one villager had seen Sjin.

With a sigh, Xephos hung his head and left the stall. _Was Sjin still in the forest?_ The cobblestone clicked underfoot as he abandoned the shouting.

‘At least I’ve got supplies...’ Xephos said tiredly. Picking a random curb, he sat down. Maybe Sjin was here, just trying to find directions back to First Aid. In asking around, Xephos had found that not a single villager had known of the town. From their reactions it looked like he was triggering some to actually _have_ a destination when they finally set off.

A chicken fluttered past, landing squarely on Xephos’s knee.

‘Um... hello?’

Xephos brushed the chicken off. Not a second later, she hopped back on. This happened twice more before Xephos sighed and left the chicken sitting on him.

It was a pure white chicken. No, not chicken. Too small. It was about the size of a baby chick, except it wasn’t yellow and had the proper adult feathers. The chicken gazed up at Xephos, her wings adjusting for stability.

‘Clucky!?’

The voice cut through the garbled sounds of the market. It had the rasp of worry in it and range over the market. Curiously Xephos glanced up, half heartedly searching for the source.

A man was striding through the market. Young, wearing a white coat and black gloves, he searched along the road. ‘Clucky?’ he yelled again, voice cracking slightly.

Xephos glanced down to the chicken. ‘I’m going to guess that’s you?’

The man stopped, eyes landing on Xephos and the chicken. ‘Clucky!’ He dived forward, scooping the chicken off Xephos. She squawked, wings rapidly flapping.

Xephos’s eyebrows raised as he noticed how the under feathers of the chicken’s wings were red. ‘She’s your chicken?’ he asked.

‘No, I just grabbed a random chicken off the street after yelling “Clucky” for ten minutes,’ the man said. ‘Kidding, ow, Clucky cut it out. Don’t you want to go home?’

The chicken squawked.

‘I’ll give you corn seeds,’ he suggested.

The chicken stopped flapping her wings, cooed, and sat calmly on the man’s arm. He sighed, and nodded to Xephos.

‘Sorry about her. She didn’t bother you too much?’ he said.

‘No, she’s fine. I just stopped here for a minute.’ Xephos carefully climbed to his feet.

The man’s eyes widened. ‘Oh my god, you’re tall.’

Automatically Xephos glanced down appraisingly. ‘What? Not really, I’m only a bit taller than you.’

‘I’m used to people being shorter than me,’ the man said.

‘So you haven’t seen someone else around here about my height? He’s got a moustache, and a beard. Although, the beard was a bit burnt last time I saw him.’

The man frowned. ‘No, everyone here’s short.’ The chicken squawked. ‘Not you, Clucky. You’re taller than the rest.’

Clucky gave the man an odd look. Xephos could have sworn the expression was trying to convey something along the lines of _‘Don’t patronise me, human.’_

The man wilted at this, before glancing back up to Xephos. ‘Ah, name's Lalna,’ he said cheerfully.

‘Xephos.’

‘What are you here for? Not many people come here, apparently.’

‘I’m, I’m really just looking for a friend. I think I took a wrong turn though. You?’

‘My boss used to live here. He’s uh, picking some stuff up from a friend. Did you see the house that has a weird grass right outside?’

‘Ah.’

The two fell silent. Lalna shifted awkwardly. ‘So, uh, I kinda need to head back- ow!'

There was a spirited squawking from Lalna’s arms.

‘What?’ Lalna said, shaking his hand away from the chicken's beak.

_‘Squawk!’_

‘You cannot be serious.’

_‘Squawk.’_

‘No, that’s rude, Clucky, I can’t just-’

_‘Squa- screeeee!’_

‘He’s looking for a friend, I can’t just drag him across the planet.’

Clucky _roared_ , wings flaring and whipping Lalna across the face.

‘Ow.’ Lalna gave Xephos a helpless glance. ‘The dirt path leading into town, my boss is setting up a factory on the other end. Do you want a lift that way?’

‘Did you just _talk_ to a _chicken?!_ ’

Lalna ducked his head, grinning sheepishly. ‘No? You can say no if you want-’

‘ _SCREEEEE!_ ’

‘You _can_ say no,’ Lalna said, shooting a glare down at Clucky.

Xephos eyed the chicken. ‘Any particular reason your chicken wants me to go with her?’

An innocent look was spread like sunshine across the chicken’s face. Xephos chuckled, glancing up and down the road.

‘You know what? Sure. So long as I can keep an eye out for Sjin.’

Clucky started dancing on Lalna’s arms, to his apparent distaste. ‘If you’re going to do that, you’re walking,’ Lalna said down to her.

With a happy squawk, Clucky bounded from Lalna’s arms to Xephos’s shoulder. Lalna sighed, a gloved hand cupping his face.

‘At least this won’t be boring...’ he muttered. ‘Follow me then, we’re packing Honeydew’s things at the edge of town....’  
 


	3. Chapter 3

Sjin glared at the cow.

‘You. On the lead. Now.’

The cow mooed at him. Sjin could almost swear that it had a smug tone.

‘Did you hear me? You, are a cow. _You_ , listen to farmers and stop just, _stop_.’

Judging from the sun, Sjin had been attempting this for several hours. Probably more than any time he was guessing. If this was a few months ago, back on his old farm with _his_ cows and pigs and sheep 'n stuff that actually _listened_ to him, he would have done... something. That was the problem, really. Sjin had been a farmer for years. How the hell could he forget basic farming?

But he had. And now, he had a cow wandering further and further into a denser and denser jungle.

Sjin leapt at the cow, waving the lead in a doomed effort to catch her. Once again it stepped aside, peered sleepily at him then seemed to chose a random direction to amble off in. It waddled off at a decent pace, which could have brought the pair back to the village in a few... wait.

Where was he?

‘No. No, you have to be kidding- no!’ Sjin spun on his foot, breath quickening. _No! I can’t be lost, that’s just not fair!_

The jungle loomed around him. The sun hung directly overhead, mocking any attempt Sjin made at working out where north was.

In the distance the cow mooed. Sjin huffed,clenched his fists, and headed after it.

It wasn’t fair.

+++

Cow on lead, Sjin swore again.

He was completely lost. There was no question about it. And this time, unlike the desert, he was fully aware of how lost and utterly screwed he was. Plus, three days didn’t lead to a full recovery from exhaustion, it seemed. Sure, he’d gotten all the sand off himself, but currently the cow that didn’t even belong to Sjin was stronger than him.

It had decided at some point in the past hour that it really liked the sun. Sjin was fairly certain this was the wrong way. Or was it? He couldn’t even remember where the sun was relative to the village. Hopefully that was just due to poor memory and not some symptom of oncoming death.

The sun was almost set when Sjin found a road. It was pretty rubbish; it looked like whoever built it had just pulled the stumps from the ground and called it a day without putting any effort into building it. A rotting log sat against the side, and the cow seemed to decide that it would be a nice place to rest.

Sjin instantly tied the lead to a convenient branch. ‘Right. Now, tomorrow you’re going to lead me back, right?’

The cow ignored him.

Sitting on the log, Sjin scrubbed at his face. ‘Hope you’re not too worried, Xephos...’ he muttered.

He probably was.

‘Sorry,’ Sjin said.

Normally when you apologise to someone several kilometres away in the dark while sitting on a log, you do not expect a reply. Sjin did not receive one. However, he did hear something.

The horse neighed again, hoofbeats growing louder.

Sjin’s head jerked up and stared down the road, eyes wide. A light was rolling down the dirt road, and the light....

‘Xephos?’ Sjin muttered. Then sanity interrupted him. No. It couldn’t be, First Aid didn’t have any horse-drawn carts. ‘Hey! O-over here!’

‘What?’ came a voice from the cart.

Sjin ran forward, waving his arms over his head. ‘Hey, do you know which way it is to First Aid?’ he said.

The cart driver looked as if he had grey skin. It just had to be from the fading sunlight and the torch’s glow flickering oddly at him. ‘First aid?’ the man said. ‘Uh, I’ve got a kit back here somewhere. Where’re you hurt?’

‘No, no it’s a _place_.’

The man snorted. ‘A place called first aid. Suurrre. How did you get beer all the way out in the middle of nowhere?’

'W- I’m not drunk!’

‘I’m not accusing you, I actually want to know. Where di-’

‘Look, do you know where the nearest town is? Do I go forwards or backwards?’ Sjin said.

The man’s face stiffened. ‘Uh. D-don’t go backwards. No town there, just a crat- uh. Fields and crap. You know? No first aid there, you’d probably just get sick- get _bored_ , yeah.’

‘So there is a town?’

The man half glanced behind him. He looked like he was glaring at his cart. ‘N-no... not now that he's _back_....’

The last portion was said in a small mutter. Sjin had a feeling he wasn’t meant to have heard that.

‘Tell you what,’ the man said. ‘I’ll give you a lift. That your cow?’

Sjin eyed the cow. She mooed. ‘Not really,’ he said.

‘I can probably tow him along the back,’ the man mused. ‘Uh, tie him on the back, maybe? He’ll probably follow. Right?’

‘First of all, it’s a girl. Secondly, why should I get on your cart?’

The man smirked. ‘Cause you’re lost in a jungle? Come aboard, I don’t bite.’

+++

It was several hours later when Sjin heard the sounds of a town rolling past. ‘Are we stopping?’

The cart driver, Sips who actually _did_ have grey skin, called back. ‘Fuck no! Do you want to get blown up?’

‘Blown up?’ Sjin stuck his head out of the cart. ‘W-why would we get blown up?!’

It looked like a nice town they were in. The jungle was not far away, so they looked like they never had a wood shortage. There were wooden huts, wooden bridges, wooden benches, anything that could be made of wood _was_ made of wood. The town was a walking fire hazard, true. But there were no guns, cannons or anything close to blowing up capable.

Sips jerked a thumb behind them. 'See the white building?'

Sjin stood, peering on tip toe over the cart. Over the wooden huts and overlooking the town, a massive white building was in the process of being built. Judging from the frameworks, it was going to be the tallest building for _ages_. Then again, that was not so great a compliment, since all the others around were either one or two stories high.

'Yeah?'

'That, that is going to be Honeydew Inc.'

'Interesting name?'

'It's named after the owner. He doesn't like me, and I do not want to mess with him right now.'

Sjin nodded vaguely, sinking back to his seat in the cart. 'Where exactly are you going?'

'Eh....' Sips grinned, although it looked a lot more forced than his earlier expressions. 'West, somewhere. Probably'll start some kind of company. Maybe I'll sell dirt.'

'Right.' Sjin fidgeted, glancing off the cart.

'I’ll stop just out of town for tonight, alright? You can go look for your "First Aid," now, if you want.'

Sjin leaned back to stare again at the roof. 'Actually, you should keep driving. If this guy's gonna try blow you up, you shouldn't hang around nearby.'

'Yeah, but then you won't have a ride out of here.'

Sjin didn't respond for a few seconds, too busy staring at the other. 'You're going to wait for me?'

'That's what friends are meant to do, right? Plus you need someone to look after your cow while you search.'

'All... alright then. Thanks, Sips.'

'No problem.'

With that, Sips paused the cart. It was a short scramble later and Sjin was standing on the street, Sips’s cart trotting off into the distance.

For a fleeting second, Sjin wondered if Sips was planning to steal the cow. He shrugged. If Sips wanted the cow, he could keep her. Good riddance!

The street was empty. From where Sjin stood, he could see glimpses of people inside the different houses. One or two faces peered at him, before darting into the darkness deeper indoors. The houses were squat things. Straw roofs sat like hair on the heads of each house. Some portions of the straw looked slightly singed.

_Now, where was the nearest inn?_

+++

It was late when Sjin skidded and sprinted to the edge of the town. Rumours were swirling through his head. Rumours of black dealings and the threads of adventures that almost begged for him to take a closer look. Yet there were no rumours of the small town of First Aid. Nor was there any word of the sands, or Israphel, or really _anything_ close to the insane events of the past months. It was almost maddening.

But then the bar had gone deathly silent. Then every man and woman had fled and hid deep indoors and had left Sjin hiding in the growing night. Brilliant lights had flashed overhead, beelining straight for “Honeydew Inc.”

It was time to go.

The tiny light swung above the cart. Sips was still there, apparently feeding his horse. At the sound of Sjin stumbling to a halt, Sips’s head snapped up. A flash of panic flickered in his eyes before it was snuffed out.

‘Hey. So, you find what you were looking for?’ Sips said.

Resting against the cart, Sjin slowly shook his head. ‘Um, you’re alright with giving me a lift to the next town?’

With a sharp nod, Sips leaped back aboard, snatching the horse’s reins as he went past. ‘Sure! Hop aboard, next town ETA two days!’

Despite himself, Sjin grinned as he climbed on after him.

‘We’re going now?’ Sjin said.

‘May as well. Come on then, hurry up you big dumb dumb...’ Sips said, staring at his horse. ‘We’ve got miles to cover! Yeeha!’

The cart began to trundle onto the road, Sips's cheerful encouragement fading into the distance.


End file.
